Herringbone-type rotary milking parlour

ABSTRACT

A rotary milking parlor comprises an annular milking platform (12) and a central milker pit, as well as: a radially directed accessway (16) at the outer periphery of milking platform (12) to allow cows to enter their milking stalls (32) head first from the outside; an external, radially directed exitway from milking platform (12) and adjacent accessway (16) to allow the cows to exit their milking stalls (32) head first; radially inner rear barriers (20) on milking platform (12), and a front barrier (22) associated with each milking position and adapted to be moved to a forward cow access position. The milking stalls (32) for the cow access position. The milking stalls (32) for the cows are provided in a herringbone pattern on milking platforms (12) and each front barrier (22) is pivotable about a horizontal bottom axle (24) transverse to the longitudinal axis (33) of each milking stall (32).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to improvements in animal managementsystems and in particular to a herringbone-type rotary milking parlour.

Reference throughout this specification shall be made to use of thepresent invention in relation to managing cows for milking purposes. Itshould be appreciated however that the principles of the presentinvention can be used to manage other animals for other purposes, forexample medical treatment, shearing and so forth.

Reference shall now specifically be made to the use of the presentinvention in relation to rotary milking parlours, however again itshould be appreciated that the principles of the present invention couldbe applied to other situations.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A wide variety of stationary or rotary milking parlours has been known.Thus, a typical stationary herringbone milking parlour has front andrear corrugated cow position delimiting means (front and rear barriers),with the cows usually entering the milking parlour one after the otherin such a manner that they step through the parlour in parallel with themilker pit and the frontmost cow moves to the rearmost parlour positionand comes to a stand at an angle of approx. 30° to the milker pit toallow easy milker access to the cows' udders from the side. In theherringbone parlour, the cows assume a slightly angular side-by-sidepossition with their heads pointed towards the parlour side opposite themilker pit. In their milking positions in the herringbone parlour,adjacent animals are offset from each other by about one half their bodylength, as is customary practice.

In order to ensure that (in the aforesaid milking position) the animalsare positioned right next to the rear barrier or parlour delimitingmeans at the milker pit so that their udders are within the milker'seasy reach, it is necessary to keep the distance between the front andrear barriers or cow position delimiting means (mostly corrugated inherringbone parlours) as small as possible, taking the average cowlength into account. This requirement results in some constraint on theanimals as they enter the milking parlour, which has resulted inpreferably the entire front barrier or cow position delimiting means instationary parlours being displaced in parallel in a directionperpendicular to the milker pit (the so-called "indexing") so as tocreate more space for the cows entering the herringbone parlour.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,280 discloses a stationary herringbone milkingparlour on both sides of a milker pit which the animals enter--as iscustomary in this type of a milking parlour--through an open gate at oneend, which forces the foremost cow (of the group to be milked) totraverse the entire milking parlour until it assumes the front milkingposition in the parlour. The following animals do the same. No specialmeasures are provided for facilitating animal entry and positioning inthe milking parlour. However, each one of the front milking stalldelimiting means or front barriers has the form of a gate pivotableabout a horizontal axis above each cow. In one direction of rotationthis gate can urge the cow backwards against the rear barrier at themilker pit; after the milking, the gate is acutated in the oppositedirection so as to drive the cow from the milking stall.

It has been known that rotary milking parlours provide major advantagesfor the milking process if the cow herds to be milked are large. In thiscase, too, successive animal access to the milking parlour presents anumber of difficulties, which are reflected in the various designsdisclosed in British Patent 1,459,399. This patent discloses a rotarymilking parlour with radial milking stalls in which the cows assumetheir milking positions with their heads directed towards the center.Access to such a milking position from the outside is fairly simple asthe cow only has to step forward. Once milking is finished after onerevolution, it is difficult for the cows, however, to leave theirmilking position, since they have to turn around completely on theplatform so as to reach the radially outwardly pointing exit; this theycan do only by making use also of the previously cleared adjacentmilking stall.

In other words, one of the limiting factors when milking cows on arotary parlour is the speed of exit and entry of the cows in relation tothe platform of the parlour. For maximum efficiency, it is importantthat the cows are packed closely together on the platform so that amaximum of cows can be milked at any one time. To achieve this, the cowsentering the parlour have only a limited amount of room in which tomaneuver themselves into the appropriate milking position. It is thisprocedure which takes time and slows down the milking processconsiderably.

In another embodiment disclosed in British Patent 1,459,399, a hexagonalrotary milking platform basically has six rectilinear milking stallsplaced one behind each other in a herringbone pattern. This platform hasto be stopped for loading and unloading so that the groups of animalscan successively enter or leave the respective platform section inparallel with the outer edge via an external ramp.

DE-OS 26 50 741 discloses a rotary milking parlour of the typeacknowledged in the preamble of claim 1 in which the cows being milkedstand in individual side-by-side and radially oriented stalls, with thecows' heads directed outwardly and the milker working at the center ofthe platform. The cows approach the milking platform radially from theoutside and walk head first through a free stall. Behind the rear end ofthat stall they step on a stationary "transit platform", located in acentral area of the rotary platform, on which the cows must turn aroundalmost completely to enter the free stall next following in thedirection of platform rotation, and then walk through that stall in theopposite direction until a vertically movable gate disposed at theradially outer end of the stall keeps them from exiting it while theyare milked.

Another problem with rotary parlours is that cows come in variablesizes. Thus, a small cow may position itself in a milking position insuch a manner that it makes it difficult for the farmer to reach thecow's udder to place the teat cups thereon. Thus, for consistentoperation it would be desirable if there was a way by which thedifferent sizes of cows could be accounted for so that the farmer needonly reach the same distance each time to place the teat cups onto thecow's udder.

Another problem with cows of different sizes is that ideally the cowshould fit as snugly into the milking position as possible to preventundue cow movement during the milking process, something which all tooeasily happens with heifers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention toaddress the foregoing problems or at least provide the public with auseful choice. It is a further object of the present invention toimprove a rotary milking parlour of the kind specified that it combinesthe advantages of a herringbone pattern with an unobstructed animalaccess/exit while at the same time ensuring that the cows will abut therear barrier at any time during the milking process.

Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of exampleonly.

The invention makes it possible on a rotary milking parlour to combinethe management and operating advantages of a herringbone cow positioningpattern with an easier animal access from the outside and, at the sametime, to ensure that the cows are placed with their rear body endsdirectly at the rear barrier or stall delimiting means, i.e. as farrearwards as possible, and to enable the milker to work with themwithout problems.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided asystem for restraining the movement of an animal in a defined area, thesystem including a movable restraining means arranged to push againstthe animal within the defined area. For ease of reference, the definedarea shall be referred to as the milking stall on a rotary platform andthe movable restraining means as being a headlock. It should beappreciated however that the present invention can apply to otherdefined spaces and to other restraining means, such as bars and soforth.

Preferably, the gate or headlock pivoting axle forms part of a bearingor hinge structure secured to the floor of the milking parlour. In thismanner, and given a specific gate pivoting angle, the maximum possibleclearance is created in the area of the greatest length of a cow,namely, at head height, so that the maximum possible space is availablefor a cow entering its milking position radially from the outside andfor the animal's turning movement so required.

In preferred embodiments of the present invention, the movement of theheadlocks on the rotary platform should be independent from each otherso as to take account of the individual cow sizes. This is particularlyimportant for a rotary milking system as it is a continuous milkingsystem rather than a batch milking system such as those found withconventional stationary herringbone or parallel milking parlours.

In order to adapt the milking stall without problems to differentaverage cow sizes, the distance of the pivot bearing from the rearbarrier or inner stall delimiting means preferably is madeadjustable--e.g. by appropriately located bores for fastening the pivotbearing or hinge to the floor of the annular platform of the rotarymilking parlour.

While the movement of the headlock may be a set distance each time, inpreferred embodiments movement of the headlock is a variable accordingto the size of the cow. For example, in manual versions of the presentinvention the farmer may be capable of moving the headlock back untilthe cow fits snugly in the milking stall and then lock the headlock intoposition.

Preferably the gate or headlock of each milking station is pivotableaway from or towards the milking station by an actuating member independence on the rotary position of the milking parlour. In thismanner, a cow that assumes its assigned milking stall after having leftthe access area of the milking platform will be urged rearwardly againstthe rear barrier or stall delimiting means; it will also be released asit reaches the exit. It is particularly preferred to have the gate orheadlock move towards the milking stall, i.e. for gently constrainingthe cow, with a force and a speed both of which cause the gate orheadlock to act gently on the cow as soon as the respective milkingstall has left the access area. On the other hand, it is advantageous torelease the cow swiftly, i.e. to pivot the gate away from the milkingstall with a greater force and speed so as to get the cow to exit itsmilking stall rapidly and without delay.

In order to spare the cow from experiencing excessive constrainingforces in its milking stall (e.g. while the milking platform rotates)and from becoming restless as a consequence, it is particularlyadvantageous to set the force biasing the gate or headlock towards thecow (for fixing the animal in position) at a level the cow can readilyovercome.

In preferred embodiments of the present invention, the movement of theheadlock may be automatic and responsive to the presssure of the cowagainst it.

For example, the headlock may have some biasing means (perhaps in theform of springs, hydraulic pressure, electric motor and so forth) whichgently pushes against the cow until the cow is backed into theappropriate position in the milking stall. It has been found that agentle biasing means on the headlock serves to keep most cows inposition in the milking stall while not damaging the cow in any manner.

The front barrier/gate/headlock actuating member comprises adouble-acting fluid cylinder operated by pressurized air, hydraulic oilor the like, with the cylinder being subjected to low pressure to movetowards the milking position or stall and to high pressure to move awayfrom the milking position or stall. Alternatively, two single-actingfluid cylinders acting in opposite directions may be used, of course.

In a particularly advantageous manner, the actuating member for pivotingthe front barrier or gate is articulated to some upper extension of therear barrier or milking stall delimiting means and to the top of thefront barrier or gate or headlock, and this at a height above the cowsin position on the milking platform. This position of the actuatingmember for the outwardly pivotable headlock of the rotary milkingparlour eliminates the need for bracing or structure in addition to theheadlock itself in the area of the platform periphery, which bracing andstructure may present an obstacle to the cows' radially inward approachto the individual milking position; of course, this access should be asfree as possible.

In a particularly preferred manner, the radially directed accessway orexitway of the cows, which is in the form of a ramp, widens increasinglytowards the milking platform, and this in and against the direction ofplatform rotation. In order to ensure that the cows approaching therotary milking parlour line up reliably one behind the other, theaccessway should initially be relatively narrow in order to keep morethan one cow from trying to enter a single milking station. Despite thisindividualization, each cow should have sufficient space as it entersthe rotary milking parlour between the outwardly pivoted gates. To thisend, it is especially helpful to increasingly widen the accessway in thedirection of rotation as it approaches the rotary platform.

There are a number of considerations to be taken into account whendesigning a system such as that described above for use on a rotaryparlour. A major consideration is that the cows have a clear standingspace in the milking stall. Although the headlock could be movable on atrack within the milking stall, the chances of the cows either beingdamaged by the track, or the track being damaged by the cows isincreased.

It is equally important that there are no protrusions into the milkingstall at other levels which could interact adversely with the cows.

Another consideration with designing mechanical equipment for rotaryplatforms is the amount of cow waste which is dropped onto the platform.This waste can clog mechanical systems. In preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, the angle of movement of the headlock is such thatthe cow is moved in a direction to ensure that it is in lineappropriately with the milking equipment, other cows on the platform andin such a manner to allow maximum packing of cows onto the platform.

Thus, the ideal movable headlock would move cows at a consistent angle,not intrude in a potentially damaging way into the milking stall andwould not be unduly susceptible to clogging caused by cow waste.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided amovable headlock that moves about a substantially horizontal pivot.

It can be seen that this embodiment of the present invention addressesthe considerations outlined above. A horizontal pivot ensures that theheadlock can move the cows at a constant angle with respect to therotary platform. For example a vertical pivot would move the cows at avaried angle which leads to problems with alignment of the milkingequipment and maximum packing of cows on the platform.

By having a horizontal pivot, the mechanism for moving the headlock canbe outside or at one end of the milking stall, thus not interfering withthe cows and in most cases out of the range of cow waste.

The provision of a headlock with a horizontal pivot also ensures thatthere is maximum clearance around the exit and entry of the rotaryplatform as well.

The headlock may be moved by a variety of means.

In a manual version of the present invention, the headlock may fallfreely on the cow, the weight of the headlock ensuring that the cowmoves into an appropriate position. However, in preferred embodimentsmovement of the headlock is controlled automatically by some biasingmeans as discussed above.

As the milking systems of the state of the art are already supplied withvacuum and air pressure, in preferred embodiments of the presentinvention the headlock is moved with air pressure, perhaps in the formof a pneumatic ram. For example, the ram may be provided withdifferential pressure that biases the headlock against the cows. Whenthe cow is snugly fitted into the stall as a consequence of the pressureagainst it, the ram may cause the headlock to maintain a gentle yetsteady pressure on the cow keeping it into position. This has distinctadvantages in animal management over a positively driven headlock, sayif an electric or hydraulic motor was used.

The activation of the headlock may be achieved by a number of means. Inpreferred embodiments, the motion of the rotary platform may be theactuating mechanism which causes the headlock to move the cow into theappropriate positon in the milking stall. For example, the headlock maybe moved out of the way while the cow enters the stall and as theplatform rotates round, the headlock may then be activated as aconsequence of the platform movement and push the cow into theappropriate position.

In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, each headlock hasits own individual control.

It may be possible that in some embodiments there may be provided asingle device that moves the headlocks when they reach that device as aconsequence of the rotary platform turning. For example, there may beprovided a ramming device that pushes against each headlock when theheadlock reaches same as a consequence of the rotation of the platform.

It should be appreciated that the same method by which the headlock ismoved against the cow to push it into position in the milking stall mayalso be used to move the headlock out ouf the way of the cow so the cowcan readily exit the milking stall at the end of the milking cycle.

Typically, headlocks latch automatically as soon as the cow's headenters it. While the headlocks can be manually released at the end ofthe milking cycle, it is preferable that the headlocks are automaticallyreleased so as to speed up the exit of the cows from the milkingplatform and reduce the number of operations by the farmer.

The automatic release of the headlock may be achieved by a variety ofmeans. It should be appreciated however that as the headlock is in avariable position vertically and horizontally depending upon the size ofthe cow, conventional methods of releasing the headlock may notnecessarily be applicable. Another consideration is that as the latchingis automatic, the releasing mechanism must hold the headlock unlatchedin case a cow lowers its head for a final feed through the headlock justprior to exiting the rotary platform and thus relatching same.

According to one aspect of the present invention there may be providedan actuating mechanism for the release of a headlock on a rotaryplatform in the form of a contoured cam.

The provision of a contoured cam which can interact with a latch releasemechanism of the headlock addresses a number of considerations outlinedabove. Both the vertical and horizontal position of the headlock canvary as a consequence of its being moved around a horizontal pivot.Thus, the provision of a contoured cam can take into account thesevariations.

In preferred embodiments, the latch release mechanism is connected to anactuator that can interact with the contoured cam which is positionedabove the milking stall (out of the cow's way). Preferably this cam ispositioned near the exit of the rotary platform.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be describedwith reference to the attached drawings, wherein

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top plan view showing the principles of this embodiment ofthe herringbone-type rotary milking platform, with only about one thirdof the circular ring-shaped milking platform being shown;

FIG. 2 shows a portion of FIG. 1 with a number of additional details onan enlarged scale;

FIG. 3 shows some specific details of the gate or headlock actuatingmember of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 4 shows a section along a cow position approximately on line IV--IVin FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 shows a front elevation of a possible embodiment of a headlockfor a cow;

FIG. 6 shows a front elevation of an alternative headlock which wouldreplace the one of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 shows a top view of a connection means having the form of aparallelogram and connecting the actuating means/double-acting pneumaticcylinder of each milking position with the upper ends of the twomoveable rails of each headlock.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows a partial schematic view of a rotary milking parlour 10from above, with milker pit 14 located at the center and an annularmilking platform 12 slowly rotating in the direction of arrow 11; in thecourse of one revolution of the platform, the animals are milked bymeans of conventional milking equipment while positioned on the platformin a herringbone pattern with their heads pointing out. The cows enterthe rotary milking parlour 10 via a radially disposed ramp-likeaccessway 16 which widens increasingly in the direction of platformrotation towards the platform. After having been milked during onerevolution of the rotary milking platform, the animals leave the samevia a ramp-like exitway 18 which is provided adjacent to the accessway16 and parallel thereto.

As depicted in FIG. 1 and shown in greater detail in FIGS. 2 to 4, eachanimal milking position or stall 32 for a cow has associated therewithas a front barrier or milking position delimiting means on therotary-milking platform a gate 22 pivotable about a horizontal axle 24and optionally provided with a headlock 34 and/or a feed manger 36. FIG.4 clearly shows that the gate 22 is pivotable into a variety ofpositions with the aid of actuating member 30 so as to obtain tworesults at the same time. Firstly, pivoting gate 22 into the rightmostposition shown in FIG. 4 (or into a similar position) causes the cow(when it assumes its milking position 32) to move as far back aspossible so that the rear end of its body abuts the rear barrier ormilking station delimiting means (reference numeral 20); if that reardelimiting means is configured as shown in FIG. 2, the cow contacts acabinet-like structure 40 accommodating the joints and controls for themilking equipment associated with each milking station. Secondly,pivoting gate 22 into the leftmost position in FIG. 4 (or into a similarposition) creates enough space for the animals entering the rotaryplatform in an approximately radially inward direction (FIG. 1) to turnabout 120° to the left when they step on the platform, as is necessaryto assume the conventional herringbone pattern on the platform. As soonas a cow has performed this leftward turn in FIG. 1, actuating member 30is controlled by a suitable revolving cam mechanism in dependence on themovement of the rotary milking platform to swing gate 22 to the right(in FIG. 4) so as to gently push the cow in its milking position 32towards the rear barrier or milking station delimiting means 20. Oncesubstantially fixed in this position, the cow stays in its milkingposition 32 for the entire revolution of the rotary milking platform andwill be milked in a conventional manner. After one revolution of themilking platform, when the cow reaches the ramp-like exitway 18,actuating member 30 again is cam controlled to open gate 22 rapidly andwithout delay, i.e. it pivots gate 22 to the left in FIG. 4 for therelease of the cow so that the animal may leave its milking position 32in a substantially radially outward direction as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a specific configuration and arrangement of the actuatingmechanism including actuating member 30, with the latter in this examplebeing a double-acting fluid cylinder, of which the ram is pivotablycoupled at its outer end to a lug on gate or headlock 22, the latter notbeing shown in detail in FIG. 3. However, as shown in FIG. 4, thisactuating mechanism is located above the maximum height of the cowsbetween the top end of gate 22 and a circularly disposed upper carriermember 21 associated with the rear barrier or milking stall delimitingmeans 20 (FIG. 4), whereby this actuating mechanism does not occupyadditional space outside the milking platform or any room within thecows' range of movement in milking position 32.

Activation of the double-acting fluid cylinder (e.g. by way of air orhydraulic oil) in the appropriate timed sequence in dependence on therotary position of the rotary milking platform is effected in aconventional manner by a cam-controlled valve 42 (FIG. 3) via a suitablycontoured camming surface 43 (FIG. 1) located on the milking platform10; a discussion of the details of such camming surfaces will beunnecessary because they are well known to the person skilled in theart. It is noted, however, that actuating member 30 biases the gate orheadlock 22 in a direction towards a cow present in milking position 32with a relatively low force so as to not place the cow under excessiveconstraint. On the other hand, at the end of the revolution of themilking platform, gate 22 is subjected to a relatively strong force toimpart to it a sudden pivoting opening movement so that the openingmovement is a rapid one and the cow has sufficient time to leave itsmilking station via exit ramp 18. Since it is customary in conventionalmilking installations to use different air pressures, it may beparticularly advantageous to use as actuating member 30 a double-actingair cylinder to which high-pressure air is applied in the gate openingdirection and low-pressure air in the gate closing direction.

In order to allow the distance between pivoting axle 24 of gate 22 andthe rear barrier or milking station delimiting means 20 to be varied soas to adapt it to herds of cows having different average lengths,pivoting bearing 28 is adapted to be fastened to floor 26 of milkingplatform 22 in a variety of distances from rear barrier or milkingstation delimiting means 20--e.g. by several sets of fastening bores infloor 26, as shown at 25 in FIG. 4. Also, since the pivoting bearingprojects upwards from floor 26, gate or headlock 22 is bent as at 38 tocreate an additional distance from the normal treading area of the cowpresent in the milking position 32 in order to prevent the bearing orhinge structure from causing damage to the cow's hooves.

FIG. 6 shows the alternative headlock which would replace the one ofFIGS. 4/5. It consists of a U-shaped pipe frame 44, the horizontalbottom part 46 of which is hinged at 28 to the floor of the milkingplatform to cause the pipe frame to perform the pivoting movement asindicated in FIG. 4 under the influence of the double acting fluidcylinder 30. Two moveable headlock rails 48, 48A are pivotably connectedto said bottom part 46 by way of pivot points 50 so that these rails canbe set in the plane of U-shaped pipe frame 44 to run parallel to eachother (the headlock position L) or to be moved away from each other (therelease position R) in order to release the cow's head fromheadlock/front barrier 22.

FIG. 7 shows how the cylinder 30 is connected to the very top of theheadlock 22, i.e. the ends 52A of a parallelogram 54 are connected tothe top end 52 of the two headlock rails 48, 48A, i.e. the headlockrails are operated between the positions R and L by cylinder 30 viaparallelogram 54: Before the cow has entered the milking stall 32, theheadlock is in the fully open position R because the cylinder 30 isfully extended (far left position in FIG. 4) and the parallelogram 54 isopen. Once the cow has entered, the headlock 22 and the parallelogram 54close as the cylinder 30 begins to retract. As a further consequencethereof, the cow is "indexed" (moved backward) into position abuttingthe rear barrier 20, whereafter the cylinder holds a fully retractedposition, with the parallelogram 54 being closed and the headlock beinglocked (position L). Once the cow approaches the exitway 18 after havingbeen milked during its travel on the milking platform 12, the cylinder30 begins its forward movement (from right to left in FIG. 4), whichwill first open the parallelogram 54 thus moving the headlock rails 48,48A to position R. Continued forward movement of cylinder 30 will thenmove the open headlock away from the cow into a position to the far leftin FIG. 4, which will give the cow sufficient room to exit the stall 32via exitway 18 without any problem.

In a preferred mode of operation the milking of the cows may be achievedin the following manner.

(a) A cow lines up to enter a milking stall at the entry of the rotaryplatform. This milking stall has a headlock pulled as far back aspossible so as to allow maximum clearance for the cow to enter theplatform and hence maximum speed of entry.

(b) As the rotary platform turns with the cow in the milking stall, anair ram attached to the top of the headlock is activated pushing theheadlock toward the cow about its horizontal pivot at the bottom of thegate/headlock. This pushes the cow into the suitable position in themilking stall and holds it there through gentle pressure by the air ram.

(c) As the rotary platform nears the exit, the automatic delatchingdevice of the headlock may operate.

(d) At approximately the same time, the air ram may pull the headlockback to its original position thus creating sufficient room for the cowto leave the rotary platform achieving maximum exit speed.

List of reference numerals

10 rotary milking parlour

11 arrow/direction of rotation

12 milking platform

14 milker pit

16 accessway

18 exitway

20 rear barrier

22 gate/headlock/front barrier

24 horizontal axle

25 fastening bores

26 floor

28 pivoting bearing/hinge

30 actuating member--double-acting fluid cylinder

32 animal milking position/stall

34 headlock

36 feed manger

40 cabinet-like structure

42 valve (cam controlled)

44 U-shaped pipe frame

46 bottom part of 44

48, 48A headlock rails

50 pivot points of 48, 48A

52, 52A parallelogram fixing points

54 parallelogram

We claim:
 1. A rotary milking parlour comprising:an annular milkingplatform having a floor and being divided into a series of elongatedmilking stalls each having a longitudinal axis, said milking stallsbeing arranged in a herringbone pattern along the annular milkingplatform, and a central milker pit; a radially directed accessway at theouter periphery of the milking platform to allow cows to enter theirmilking stalls head first from the outside; an external, radiallydirected exitway from the milking platform and the adjacent accessway toallow the cows to exit their milking stalls head first; radially innerrear milking stalls delimiting means defining a rear barrier for eachstall; a gate associated with each milking stall and adapted to be movedto an access position, each said gate serving as a milking stalldelimiting means defining a radially outer front barrier; and ahorizontal axle substantially transverse to the longitudinal axis ofeach milking stall pivotally carrying each of said gates, wherein theaxle of each gate is part of a hinge/bearing fastened to the floor ofthe milking platform, each said gate being pivotable towards a cow inthe stall to insure that the cows will abut the rear barrier at any timeduring the milking process.
 2. A rotary milking parlour as in claim 1,wherein the pivoting axle carrying each gate or front barrier is part ofthe hinge/bearing fastened to the floor of the milking platform.
 3. Arotary milking parlour as in claim 2, wherein the gate has a bend in alower section such that its bottom end together with the hinge/bearingsupporting the pivoting axle is located at a sufficient horizontaldistance forward of the cows' treading and walking area on floor on themilking platform in order to protect the cows' hooves from being injuredthereby.
 4. A rotary milking parlour as in claim 1 including anactuating member, wherein the gate or front barrier of each milkingstall is adapted to be pivoted by said actuating member in a directiontowards the milking stall or outwardly away from the milking stall independence on the rotary position of the milking stall during the courseof the rotary platform movement.
 5. A rotary milking parlour as in claim4 wherein the actuating member is operatively connected to said gate toapply to it a force gentle on the cow when said gate is pivoted in adirection towards the milking stall and a significant higher force andspeed when pivoted away from the milking stall after the cow has leftthe accessway or reaches the exitway.
 6. A rotary milking parlour as inclaim 5 wherein the force applied to the gate and directed towards thecow to retain it in the milking stall is such that it is easily overcomeby the cow.
 7. A rotary milking parlour as in claim 5 wherein theactuating member comprises a double-acting fluid cylinder, said fluidcylinder having low pressure applied to it to act towards the milkingstall and having high pressure applied to it to act away from themilking stall.
 8. A rotary milking parlour as in claim 4 wherein theforce applied to the gate and directed towards the cow to retain it inthe milking stall is such that it is easily overcome by the cow.
 9. Arotary milking parlour as in claim 8 wherein the actuating membercomprises a double-acting fluid cylinder, said fluid cylinder having lowpressure applied to it to act towards the milking stall and having highpressure applied to it to act away from the milking stall.
 10. A rotarymilking parlour as in claim 4 wherein the actuating member comprises adouble-acting fluid cylinder, said fluid cylinder having low pressureapplied to it to act towards the milking stall and having high pressureapplied to it to act away from the milking stall.
 11. A rotary milkingparlour as in claim 10, wherein the actuating member for pivoting thegate defining the front barrier is articulated to the rear milking stalldelimiting means and to the top of the gate and is disposed above thepositions of the cows on the milking platform.
 12. A rotary milkingparlour as in claim 11, wherein the gate defining the front barrier isin the form of a headlock.
 13. A rotary milking parlour as in claim 12,wherein the headlock comprises a U-shaped frame having a horizontalbottom part, a top, and two headlock rails and defining a frame plane,in which the horizontal bottom part is hinged to the floor and supportspivot points for the two headlock rails pivotable in the plane of theframe and connected at the top to the cylinder via a parallelogram. 14.A rotary milking parlour as in claim 4, wherein the rear milking stalldelimiting means is continuously curved to correspond to the annularmilking platform and in that the space there remaining between theanimals because of the herringbone pattern between the rear end of themore forwardly placed cow and the flank of the more rearwardly placedanimal is occupied at least partly by a cabinet-like receptacleaccommodating and protecting against contamination all joints, controlsand indicators required for the respective milking stall.
 15. A rotarymilking parlour as in claim 4, wherein the radially directed accesswayand the radially directed exitway are widened increasingly in or againstthe direction of rotation of rotary milking parlour as they approach therotary milking parlour.
 16. A rotary milking parlour as in claim 1,wherein the gate defining the front barrier is provided with a feedmanger.
 17. A rotary milking parlour as in claim 1, wherein the gate hasa bend in a lower section such that its bottom end together with thehinge/bearing supporting the pivoting axle is located at a sufficienthorizontal distance forward of the cows' treading and walking area onfloor on the milking platform in order to protect the cows' hooves frombeing injured thereby.
 18. A rotary milking parlour as in claim 1,wherein the rear milking stall delimiting means is continuously curvedto correspond to the annular milking platform and in that the spacethere remaining between the animals because of the herringbone patternbetween the rear end of the more forwardly placed cow and the flank ofthe more rearwardly placed animal is occupied at least partly by acabinet-like receptacle accommodating and protecting againstcontamination all joints, controls and indicators required for therespective milking stall.
 19. A rotary milking parlour as in claim 1,wherein the radially directed accessway and the radially directedexitway are widened increasingly in or against the direction of rotationof rotary milking parlour as they approach the rotary milking parlour.20. A rotary milking parlour as in claim 1, wherein the gate definingthe front barrier is in the form of a headlock.